My renovated float is starting to look like a float again!

The past few weeks have been very busy with both my work and horse lives.

The exciting thing that’s happening is that my float is starting to resemble a float again!

Since I got back into riding I haven’t had any transport so, last year an older thoroughbred float became a new project, if you don’t have patience I would seriously recommend buying a new float.

In the past 12 months my float has been completely stripped, to the point of being a metal frame on a wooden platform, here’s a little timeline of events for those who are thinking of doing this:

·Remove everything – walls, floor, wheels, axles, suspension, jockey wheel – now you are left with a nice (or not so nice if it’s been parked by the beach) bit of metal sitting on a platform.

·The good thing with this is you can now forget about that metal frame and work on the suspension, once this is done you can put that aside too – now you have two bits of metal (one is small and very nice, the other is big and still not nice)

·The not so nice bit of metal needs to be sandblasted so it’s good to have a friend who paints cars (yay Matt), who can then be bribed with contras (having a builder husband is very handy) and beers. Ta-da!! you now have a nicer big bit of metal that is fully sealed and primed (with no rust)

·Now is when you realise that you need somewhere to store big bit of metal as it’s coming into winter and it really can’t be left in the rain (walla - Matt number 2 and Lisa – thanks)

·It’s also really handy to know someone who works with steel and can weld (Greg you rock) so that you can completely re do the chassis, cut the drawbar off bit of metal, make a brand new one and attach it – this is a very exciting moment.

·This is about when all progress halts for a few months, you can get out there and clean it up though, wash the roof so bit of metal looks like it has a nice clean hat on.

·Next, get ready for some work... A new jockey wheel is put on and the brakes are re-done. The brakes can be a bit of fun when testing them out but it’s a bonus that they actually work.

·Then, call on your fabulous painter friend again and the float can be primered and almost ready for a new paint job – there’s a few people who now have a claim on this float so everyone has to be happy with the colour....

·Put walls on and a nice floor, now it looks like a float, like a real actual float that one day you may be able to put your horse into (although it won’t have a ramp at this stage so don’t go doing anything silly) this is a very very very exciting moment.....

So I’m thinking all I need now is a new door, new windows, new padding for the divider and chest bars and new rubber (the floor and sides are all ready to go)... It’s been a very interesting timeline, there are so many little issues involved and to be honest there’s really very little left of the original float. Not at I am complaining at all – I am very excited ad really impressed with my husband – who now calls it his float, that’s ok as long as I can borrow it!

I’ll let you know more when I know more!!! Good luck to all you DIY float builders, I hope that you’re husband is as clever as mine! (Thank you Ben).